Nutrition Status and Anaemia Level among Women in Maharashtra

Good nutrition means “maintaining nutritional status that enables us to grow well and enjoy good health”. The nutritional status of women is important both for the quality of their own lives and the survival and healthy development of their children. Nutritional status of women in India is posing a serious challenge not only for nutritional policy but also for socio-economic and welfare policies. Therefore, this study assesses the determinants of nutritional status and anaemia level among women in Maharashtra.
Data and Methodology: Third round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3, 2005-06) data, descriptive statistics such as multivariate statistics such as multinomial logistic regression are used for the purpose of this study.
Results and Conclusion: In Maharashtra half of the women are not anaemic. A close association was found between low body mass index of the women who are illiterate, not involved in economic activity. This study revealed that women of low economic status households have the highest prevalence of under nutrition, majority of women fall under this group are undernourished and severely anaemic. This may be due to food insecurity in these households that negatively impacts the nutritional status of women, in particular, and the other household members in general.